So it’s that time of year again – when the attendee list for Davos is scrutinised and criticised for a stark lack of female representation. Just one in seven delegates this year are women. Shock! Horror!

But I’m convinced this tells us more about Davos and traditional hierarchical selection than it does about today’s pace of change in smart businesses – where there’s a growing realisation that having diversity of perspective (beyond just gender) is valuable.

The agenda for Davos looks exciting – as it did last year. Very much focused on the issues of the day and tomorrow – and yet the selection of participants appears based on the criteria of the past.

Selection based on seniority in big hierarchical companies is inevitably skewed towards white males of a similar age – they just dominate the numbers. If, however, selection was based on having something interesting to contribute, many women and other currently under-represented groups would surely qualify.

There has, I believe, been an epiphany here in the UK over the past few years. The paucity of women at the top is now seen by many as a business issue, not a special-interest issue. The financial crisis was one catalyst for change – the zeitgeist now is firmly in favour of more diversity, and less homogeneity, in the boardroom and beyond.

But while there’s been a remarkable shift in attitudes, particularly right at the top of British business, there’s still a long way to go to make better gender balance at all levels a reality.

I chair Opportunity Now, Business in the Community’s gender equality campaign, and we recently conducted a survey, Project 28-40 (focused on that age cohort as that’s the danger zone for women’s careers). Almost 25,000 people (23,000 women and 2,000 men) took part, to tell us their first-hand experiences of workplace culture and to describe their own ambitions.

The initial findings are fascinating. Women say they are ambitious, confident and feel supported by their partners in their career aspirations. They feel much less encouraged by their employers, however, both in respect of career development and the workplace culture, where bullying and harassment are still prevalent.
There’s also a big discrepancy between men’s view of the equality of opportunity (perceived as good) and women’s (not so good!).

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This apparent, lingering gap, between the inclusive and fair cultures most companies are aiming for and the reality, is disappointing but gives plenty to act upon. We’re exploring these issues in depth, ahead of making recommendations for addressing the remaining challenges in a report that will be published in early April.

So back to Davos. It’s not a surprise that there are so few women attending. That’s the reality of the world we live in. It’s a symbolic reminder of the progress we still need to make, but I’m not so sure it matters in terms of the impact on our actual lives (what has ever come out of Davos?).

I have to confess, I’ve never been to Davos myself – to be honest, I’d rather be running Newton, working on real actions to improve gender balance in the workplace and spending the weekend at home with my family. And perhaps that’s really why so few women are there...

-- Helena Morrissey CBE is chief executive of Newton Investment Management and founder of the 30% Club

This article was first published in the print edition of Financial News dated January 20, 2014